Vehicle interior panels can provide aesthetic appeal to the passenger compartment of a vehicle by concealing underlying structural components of the vehicle or hollow spaces within the vehicle, such as storage spaces or spaces along which vehicle wiring or conduits are located. Some interior vehicle panels provide other functionality in addition to aesthetic appeal, such as supporting passenger weight or passenger-imparted loads or accommodating other useful features, like indicator lights or cup holders. One example of a vehicle interior panel is a center console lid that can be opened to access a storage compartment. Such console lids are typically opened via a front latch which is released to pivot the lid about a rear hinge. With elongated console lids, the front end must be lifted quite high to access the storage space. This can place the passenger in a physically awkward position, with a raised arm and a twisted and forward-leaning torso.
Sliding doors are one alternative to hinged lids. U.S. Pat. No. 9,085,265 to Hipshier discloses a sliding door used to conceal a center console storage area. The door is formed from a series of parallel ribs attached to the bottom of a cushion that is made of a molded foam material. The ribs support the cushion and slide along rails to open and close the door. The molded foam cushion has a relatively high-density integral outer skin that encapsulates a lower density internal portion of the cushion. The skin and internal portion of the foam cushion are integral, meaning they are formed at one time from the same material by injecting a foaming material into a mold so that the skin forms against the cool mold surface early in the process before full foam expansion. The Hipshier skin has a relatively low limit on the overall thickness of the foam cushion and explicitly teaches a trade-off between high thickness comfort and low thickness flexibility.